Can't be THAT much colder, you're only a few hundred miles further north.

Wierd indeed.

Española sounds ten times better anyway.

What's wierd is how you spell weird.

Interesting enough for me.

Don't get me started about winter. Anybody who's known me for any decent amount of time has probably heard more about winter than they want to know.

I haven't heard enough about winter.

Yah, what kind o' special winter do you have in mapleland, eh?
Beaver sleet?
Hockey puck hail?
Raining syrup?

They're cold. Most people don't understand the concept of cold. Cold isn't "say, this refrigerator makes my hand feel kind of frosty," or "gee, putting my hand into this bucket of ice cream is unpleasant". Cold is "holy ♥♥♥♥, breathing hurts and why can't I feel my extremities anymore" after a brief walk outside. Cold is "I'm wearing a scarf so I don't freeze my face off, but my breath is instantly condensing and freezing to my face so it's actually worse".

They're also snowy. Most people don't understand the concept of snow. Snow isn't "boy, this is a nice, fluffy frosting on everything," or "hey, we can ball this up and throw it at each other for fun". Snow is "traction no longer exists, the markings on the road are entirely obscured, and I can't see three meters in front of me because there's so much snow". Snow is "this blizzard is like standing inside of a Shop-Vac after a catastrophic incident at the glass factory".

They're also long. Most people don't understand the concept of long winters. Long winters aren't "oh, that's too bad, it'll be cold and snowy for a few months," or "spring won't be here for while - March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb". Long winters are "March comes in like a bastard and out like a son of a ♥♥♥♥♥". Long winters are "did you just see that leaf fall? Guess we're in for dark, brooding, grey skies, soul-crushing weather and terrible driving conditions for another 9 months".

This was my backyard last winter:
Yes, that is a tree. That pile of snow was taller than me, and at that point in the year, it was rock-solid. There was nowhere left to put snow, so it just kept getting taller.

This was the front walk:
Those piles of snow on either side were nearly my height. Further down the walk, you can see how high the snow is in the middle of the street. Good luck parking. If you do, your tires will be frozen in place the next morning.

This was a parking lot:

Again, nowhere to put snow, so it just made a bigger and bigger pile.

Now, keep in mind that things stayed this way from mid-October until early May. That's just how things are in winter. Real winter.

Also, note that the perfect whiteness you see in those pictures doesn't at all reflect the usual state of things. That's after fresh snowfall. 90% of the time, it's mostly brown. It looks a lot more like this. It's absolutely disgusting, and when things start melting even the slightest bit, it gets worse. Since we get temperature fluctuations near spring, you'll occasionally get a short period where the temperature goes above freezing. In that time, everything is slush, since the road is entirely paved with snow at that point. Your car gets covered in brown slush and mud. Then, it freezes an hour later, so you can't get your car washed for god only knows how long. On top of that, the road is now rutted from tires having run through it, so you can actually get trapped in the ruts, especially when there's a heavy snowfall that makes them invisible until you're already in them. Getting out and pushing a car in -40 weather is not fun.

When everything actually melts, things flood. Another fun thing is how long it takes to melt: this year, we had enough snowfall that the giant pile of snow downtown which had been plowed out of the streets didn't melt until the end of August. Anyway, once winter ends (usually in May, as I mentioned before), you get 3-4 months before this whole thing starts again. Not always, though. It's snowed in June and July in the past (and probably August, too, I can't remember).

Gotta say TLB, either you're a midget, or the perspective in the first 2 makes those piles seem really short.
But that sounds godawful, much worse than what I get here in NY.

Yeah, it's perspective. Those are both taken from the tops of stairs, leading up to either side of my house.

Ok, that first one with the tree I can see being huge now, but the one of the front walk just really doesn't look as tall as a person. It looks like my waist height.

If you look to the left in the second picture, there's a fairly large shrub, almost completely buried. It's about up to my armpits. Like I said, that one is almost my height.

We don't always have such winters, and never as long, but still, some pretty harsh ones here, too.

What is this "Snou" you speak of? Is it French?

Reminds me of that really thick snow we had in the UK, I don't think it was that bad though.